11 November 2020: There will be no safe haven from the virus ahead of Xmas.

11 November 2020: Update on The Corona Pandemic – The Belgian figures for infections and hospitalisations are encouraging. Whilst the pressure on the ICU units increased slightly - 1,474 Covid patients are receiving critical care - the number of infections and hospital admissions continues to go down. This in addition with the news that Pfizer and BioNTech are developing a vaccine that in tests is proving to protect 90% of those inoculated has raised hopes of a speedy return to the old normal. Experts, however, are warning that still a lot needs to happen before we can consider a relaxation of the lockdown measures. The vaccine still needs to be approved and it’s going to take time before enough people are vaccinated to impact the spread of the virus. Pfizer will need a whole year to meet their goal of 1.3 million doses.  As you need two doses per person you can inoculate 650 million people with this first batch. The world population is ten times that.  Hence, more will be needed than this sole vaccine before we can go back to our normal lives.  Everybody seems to be in agreement that after the first wave we reopened society a bit too enthusiastically and the authorities, rightfully,intend to be stricter this time round. The Corona measures will be re-examined on 1 December, but the government is refusing to be drawn on relaxations ahead of Christmas. “First we need to reach a safe port.  Circulation of the virus must be limited as much as possible ahead of relaxations” Belgian health minister Frank Vandenbroucke stated. Net-net, hoping for traditional Xmas is a fantasy just like the mural of Cee Pil, an artist renowned for his graffiti art and groundbreaking murals – Oude Dokken, Ghent, Belgium.